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Fred Astaire's Widow Loses An Appeal To Supreme Court

Fred Astaire's widow lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday, killing her lawsuit over what she claims was the unauthorized use of her famous husband's image in a dance-instruction videotape.

The justices, without comment, left intact a federal appeals court ruling that threw out Robyn Astaire's case against New York-based Best Film & Video Corp. Her appeal argued that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should have sent the case, based on an interpretation of California law, to the state's Supreme Court.

In his long show business career, Fred Astaire was hailed as one of the nation's greatest dancers. He died in 1987.

His widow sued Best two years later over its making and distributing an instruction videotape that included 90 seconds of footage from two of Fred Astaire's movies.

Best had obtained the legal right to produce five dance instructional videos using the Fred Astaire Dance Studios name and licenses, but Robyn Astaire's lawsuit focused on what she said was the unauthorized use of the movie excerpts.

Although the case was based on state law, the lawsuit was filed in federal court under a "diversity of citizenship" rule. A federal trial judge ruled that the state law protecting a celebrity's right of publicity had been violated, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling last year.